Thursday, April 26, 2012

Bill M-312 - Abortion debate redux

This bill is going to be debated in parliament today. I hope that even some of the Conservatives can see what a bad idea this is and that this bill is stopped dead in its tracks today. But if it isn't, I just had to say something. To anyone, anywhere, if you are a woman, or you love a woman, whether it be a mother, wife, daughter or sister, you need to take action. Sign the petition, contact your MP, do whatever it takes. Because this is one fight women cannot afford to lose.

I have blogged before about the abortion debate, and I'm not going to rehash that now. Instead, how about another video? ;) This has been floating around the internet for awhile now and I've seen it a few places, but I think it's somewhat appropriate to the current situation since the rights of women seem to be under attack all over the world lately. All I can say is, we've come a long way baby, don't let them push us back down now.

7 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Was searching for information about bill 312 and came across your blog. Can I just say as a mother, wife, daughter and sister I am certainly glad they are revisiting this bill. It should be this exact group of people standing up for the rights of unborn children. Where would you be if your mother had not stood up for your right to live? What about the rights of the thousands of unborn baby girls who are aborted everyday? I'm not sure if you are a mom but perhaps one day you will hold a precious child in your arms and hopefully you will change your mind on this whole issue.

Clearly you either didn't read my link to my earlier blog post, or you just don't want to hear what I'm saying.

The facts are that making abortion illegal, doesn't stop it from happening. Countries where it is illegal or it has restrictions often have equal or higher rates of abortion than Canada, where there are currently no laws that address the issue at all.

What lowers abortion rates? Readily available contraception, sex education, and particularly the education of women and the consequent improvement in their standing in society. Making laws about it only curtails women's rights to choose what can and cannot happen to their bodies.

If you are truly pro-life, then I expect you support sex education, contraception and women's health initiatives? If not... I have one word for you. Hypocrite.

Oops! Shrinking Violet. Your stats are wrong. More sex ed, contraception...has increased abortion.First trimester abortion also increases a woman's chances of contracting breast cancer, depression and becoming sterile or having other pregnancy problems with future pregnancies. Dear, dear, why would you be supportive of that for your sisters?Pre-born children do need the right to be born.

You are a mother, but have you ever been raped and subsequently become pregnant? A woman can decide, and should retain the right to decide, if her pregnancy will result in a child. If we lose this right, who knows what we will lose next.

Women's rights vs. fetus' rights?As with most pro-life/pro-choice debates, I feel like this discussion is really missing the point.

The real question is - When does a clump of human cells become a human being - a separate person from the woman who carries them?

I find that pro-lifers tend to be immovable on the fact that conception is the point at which it is a human. However, I've also found that pro-choicers are adamantly opposed to discussing the question at all, calling my very feminism into question if I even raise the issue.

However, is this not an important question that deserves careful consideration and deliberation? There is little to no physical difference between an unborn fetus at 9 months and a human child who has just been born, yet - legally - one is considered a human being with rights and legal protections, while the other is considered a clump of cells.

Even you Violette said "While the baby is still dependent on the mother's body for survival, it cannot be considered a person." But what if the fetus is able to survive outside of the womb, as many botched abortion attempts can attest to? Or what about children who have been born who are still dependent on their mothers body formilk and nurture? When is a person truly a person? Is it possible there is some intermediary legal state - not quite human, but more than just a clump of cells - a potential humanity? Does a mother's right to how she treats her body really supersede that of the potential human being she carries? Why? Is there any way besides our own personal convictions and morality that we can truly decide this?

This is not an easy question,and there are no easy answers. I think that pro-lifers and pro-choicers alike should be open to a serious medical study and debate upon the subject, which is really all that Bill M-312 is proposing.

It's highly unlikely that abortion will be re-criminalized since less than 22% of Canadians actually consider abortion morally wrong. It is more likely that Bill M-312 will put a stricter framework on methods and how far pregnant you can be to have an abortion - which I think is perfectly reasonable.

The problem with Bills like this one, is that while the people introducing this bill will say that they are just 'asking questions' or 'just want to talk about an issue', they are being disingenuous. The conservative government is clearly taking a cue from their socially conservative base who are anti-choice and would very much like to see abortion become completely illegal.

Secondly, talking about extreme theoretical scenarios like "well, what happens if the mother is due to give birth tomorrow and she decides to have an abortion" is also pointless because those types of situations do not happen. No doctor would, or has, done that. Late term abortions happen for one reason and one reason only... if the mother's life is in danger or if the fetus will clearly not survive much past birth. A law that discusses when exactly a fetus becomes a person is pointless and serves only one purpose - to impinge on a women's right to bodily autonomy.